Tampa, Florida — As a few Republicans milling around whispered about a “spy” in their midst, Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was all smiles Tuesday, roaming the Tampa Bay Times Forum today to counter the GOP message as the Republican National Convention kicked off.

Villaraigosa will have his own challenges next week, when he chairs the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. But he was having plenty of fun doing interviews in Spanish and ribbing the Republicans here as folks who “burn the enchiladas” when they try to outreach to Hispanic voters.
And he confidently predicted their daily briefings and press conference efforts here — en espanol, no mas — will fail.

UPDATE: Here’s Republican National Committee response — “We’re glad that Mayor Villaraigosa will now have the opportunity to experience at least one successful convention in 2012. After being forced to cancel multiple events at the DNC due to lackluster fundraising, refusing to call Bank of America Stadium by its actual name, and failing to condemn Democratic insiders for bashing the City of Charlotte – it’s clear he’s ready for a break from his role at the DNC.” – Matt Connelly, RNC spokesman.
We’ll continue bringing you updates from Tampa all week, stay tuned.